BBC News at 10 editor Paul Royall explained on Twitter that the broadcaster's technical system had crashed seconds before going on air, which meant that the director was forced to switch to a back-up system. However, it took two whole minutes before it kicked in, meaning that we were treated to the sight of Huw looking wistfully around, checking his screens, gently writing some last-minute notes – or perhaps a poem – and generally just looking very relaxed, presumably while there was chaos behind the scenes.

FYI technical system crash seconds before 10. Director had to switch to a back-up system ASAP. @huwbbc doing great job #BBCNewsTen

And if you enjoyed the two minutes’ silence, get yourself ready for the extended remix – on the BBC News channel, which was not able to switch back to the continuity announcer to stall for time. There were four whole minutes and a lot of ‘breaking news’ announcements before the real thing kicked in.

Excellent.

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Dave Fawbert

ShortList.com staff writer Dave’s primary passions are pop, prose, punning and power ballads (and alliteration). A lower division football enthusiast and long-suffering cricket fan, he is one of only 110 people followed on Twitter by Chas Hodges from Chas ‘n’ Dave. Follow Dave on Twitter like Chas: @davefawbert